FARMER FOCUS: united front to meet the challenges ahead
It’s been a month full of promises, but are we seeing any of them materialise? To begin with I’m sure someone promised that the forecast for March was going to be better than previous months, and secondly there were the high profile promises from the likes of Tesco made at the NFU conference regarding UK meat sourcing. Have we seen any real change with either yet?
I was lucky enough to attend the NFU conference and speak at the social media breakout session. Hopefully, it encouraged more farmers to give Twitter a try and help get the industry’s voice on to the internet in a more personal form, rather than just headlines and the often misinformed views of “anti” campaigners.
Cropwise half of the spring barley has been drilled – and amazingly – rolled. All of the winter crops have had some early nitrogen, but there is a reluctance to apply more while temperatures are so cold and soils so wet. The oilseed rape is still suffering from pigeons, but luckily looking pretty good, flower buds will soon be visible so the window for getting Galera (clopyralid + picloram) sprayed to control the cleavers and thistles is closing rapidly. Hopefully, the weather has improved enough to get it done by the time you read this.
Promises are easily broken, but one that should not be is that as an industry facing one of the toughest years in living memory, across all sectors, we need to stick together over the coming months and stand up for each other, shoulder to shoulder, on the important issues we’re going to face.
Cattle TB and badgers, neonicotinoid seed treatments, CAP reform, milk prices, UK-sourced products, GM crops – the list is almost endless. A united industry is a strong one, and we all need each other if we’re going to come out of the difficult year ahead fighting fit and ready to educate and feed the mouths of the future.
Matt Redman operates an agricultural contracting business and helps out on the family farm at lower Gravehurst, Bedfordshire. The 210ha farm grows mainly wheat, oilseed rape and beans.
